Testing this argument; I'm not sure I believe it (yet), so please tear it apart:
When we think of traditional marketing, we think of a company selling a service, marketing it to its customers.
When Twitter encourages you to build your brand on their service, is that really marketing to you? You are not Twitter's customer. They provide a free service. The advertisers are Twitter's customers.
Is it fraud to "market" something in a not-entirely-honest manner to someone who is not and will not be your customer? (Seriously, I'm asking.) I'd consider it morally wrong to lie to someone like that, but is it actually fraudulent in the legal sense?
EDIT: Also a related question: when Twitter says "build your brand on Twitter," are they even marketing to you, the Twitter user? Seems like maybe they're telling potential advertisers (remember, their real customers), "hey, we're getting people to build their brands here, that should be valuable to you!"
Is Twitter really "lying to get money" here? They're telling you that you can build your brand on Twitter. And you can. Is it misleading that they don't have a little asterisk that says at the bottom in fine print, "but we may take it away if someone else has a trademark on your brand name"? Yeah, maybe. Is that fraud? Ehhh... I'm not convinced.
When we think of traditional marketing, we think of a company selling a service, marketing it to its customers.
When Twitter encourages you to build your brand on their service, is that really marketing to you? You are not Twitter's customer. They provide a free service. The advertisers are Twitter's customers.
Is it fraud to "market" something in a not-entirely-honest manner to someone who is not and will not be your customer? (Seriously, I'm asking.) I'd consider it morally wrong to lie to someone like that, but is it actually fraudulent in the legal sense?
EDIT: Also a related question: when Twitter says "build your brand on Twitter," are they even marketing to you, the Twitter user? Seems like maybe they're telling potential advertisers (remember, their real customers), "hey, we're getting people to build their brands here, that should be valuable to you!"